DETAILED ACTION
The office action is a response to an application filed on August 13, 2024, wherein claims 1-20 are pending and ready for examination.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 objected to because of the following informalities: “ The baser station of claim 18, Instead claim 20 should depend on claim 19. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Malkamaki et al. (Malkamaki hereafter) (WO2012056273A1) (IDS provided) in view of Feuersanger et al. (Feuersanger hereafter) (US 20120224552 A1) (IDS provided).
Regarding claim 1 Malkamaki teaches, method carried out by a user equipment, UE, in a Radio Access Network, RAN, the method comprising:
transmitting a power headroom control element from the UE to a base station in the RAN (send the eNB 12 power headroom reports), (Malkamaki; [Page 11, para 8- page12, para 1] the UE 10 can be assumed to also include a MAC PHR function / module 10E configured to compose and send the eNB 12 power headroom reports, i.e., to compose an uplink signaling message to report power headroom for a plurality n of component carriers, and the eNB 12 includes a complementary MAC PHR function / module 12E configured to receive and interpret the power headroom reports sent by the UE 10) (See fig. 2), wherein the power headroom control element comprises:
a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a number of bits in the power headroom control element (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 1] Embodiment 1 ) add one bit for each real per-CC PH (which should report P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) to indicate whether maximum output power for that component carrier (P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) is present or whether the previous reported maximum output power ( P.sub.CMAX,C) in the report should be used instead ... [Page 14 para 5-6]Fig.4A shows ... In this case the value of the P bit indicates whether P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C is present (P=l) or not present (P=0) in the PHR. If P.sub.C AX,C is not present (P=0), then the value of another bit S indicates whether the same as the previous value of P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C (S=l) should be used for this PH or not used (S=0)); and
an indicator field associated with the power headroom field, wherein the indicator field indicates whether the power headroom information is based on a real transmission or a virtual format (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 4]The value of the V bit indicates whether the PH is real (V=0) or virtual (V=l, see the example shown in Figure 3 for the Type 2 PH for PCell and Type 1 PH for SCell2 and SCell4)).
However, in the same field of endeavor Feuersanger teaches, a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a predetermined number of bits in the power headroom control element (Feuersanger; [0201] The MAC control element comprises a power headroom field consisting of a predetermined number of bits for comprising a per-user equipment power headroom with respect to all uplink transmissions of the user equipment on a plurality of component carriers within a sub-frame containing the MAC control element, relative to the total maximum UE transmit power of the user equipment.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the invention to create the invention of Malkamaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Feuersanger in order to report its available power headroom to eNodeB (Feuersanger; [0076]).
Regarding claim 10 Malkamaki teaches, method carried out by a base station, in a Radio Access Network, RAN, the method comprising:
receiving a power headroom control element from the UE to a base station in the RAN (send the eNB 12 power headroom reports), (Malkamaki; [Page 11, para 8- page12, para 1] the UE 10 can be assumed to also include a MAC PHR function / module 10E configured to compose and send the eNB 12 power headroom reports, i.e., to compose an uplink signaling message to report power headroom for a plurality n of component carriers, and the eNB 12 includes a complementary MAC PHR function / module 12E configured to receive and interpret the power headroom reports sent by the UE 10) (See fig. 2), wherein the power headroom control element comprises:
a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a number of bits in the power headroom control element (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 1] Embodiment 1 ) add one bit for each real per-CC PH (which should report P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) to indicate whether maximum output power for that component carrier (P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) is present or whether the previous reported maximum output power ( P.sub.CMAX,C) in the report should be used instead ... [Page 14 para 5-6]Fig.4A shows ... In this case the value of the P bit indicates whether P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C is present (P=l) or not present (P=0) in the PHR. If P.sub.C AX,C is not present (P=0), then the value of another bit S indicates whether the same as the previous value of P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C (S=l) should be used for this PH or not used (S=0)); and
an indicator field associated with the power headroom field, wherein the indicator field indicates whether the power headroom information is based on a real transmission or a virtual format (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 4]The value of the V bit indicates whether the PH is real (V=0) or virtual (V=l, see the example shown in Figure 3 for the Type 2 PH for PCell and Type 1 PH for SCell2 and SCell4)).
However, in the same field of endeavor Feuersanger teaches, a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a predetermined number of bits in the power headroom control element (Feuersanger; [0201] The MAC control element comprises a power headroom field consisting of a predetermined number of bits for comprising a per-user equipment power headroom with respect to all uplink transmissions of the user equipment on a plurality of component carriers within a sub-frame containing the MAC control element, relative to the total maximum UE transmit power of the user equipment.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the invention to create the invention of Malkamaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Feuersanger in order to report its available power headroom to eNodeB (Feuersanger; [0076]).
Regarding claim 16 Malkamaki teaches, a user equipment, UE, comprising:
A processor configured to prepare a power headroom control element for transmission from the UE to a base station for Radio access Network (send the eNB 12 power headroom reports), (Malkamaki; [Page 11, para 8- page12, para 1] the UE 10 can be assumed to also include a MAC PHR function / module 10E configured to compose and send the eNB 12 power headroom reports, i.e., to compose an uplink signaling message to report power headroom for a plurality n of component carriers, and the eNB 12 includes a complementary MAC PHR function / module 12E configured to receive and interpret the power headroom reports sent by the UE 10) (See fig. 2), wherein the power headroom control element is structured to comprise:
a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a number of bits in the power headroom control element (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 1] Embodiment 1 ) add one bit for each real per-CC PH (which should report P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) to indicate whether maximum output power for that component carrier (P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) is present or whether the previous reported maximum output power ( P.sub.CMAX,C) in the report should be used instead ... [Page 14 para 5-6]Fig.4A shows ... In this case the value of the P bit indicates whether P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C is present (P=l) or not present (P=0) in the PHR. If P.sub.C AX,C is not present (P=0), then the value of another bit S indicates whether the same as the previous value of P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C (S=l) should be used for this PH or not used (S=0)); and
an indicator field associated with the power headroom field, wherein the indicator field indicates whether the power headroom information is based on a real transmission or a virtual format (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 4]The value of the V bit indicates whether the PH is real (V=0) or virtual (V=l, see the example shown in Figure 3 for the Type 2 PH for PCell and Type 1 PH for SCell2 and SCell4)).
However, in the same field of endeavor Feuersanger teaches, a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a predetermined number of bits in the power headroom control element (Feuersanger; [0201] The MAC control element comprises a power headroom field consisting of a predetermined number of bits for comprising a per-user equipment power headroom with respect to all uplink transmissions of the user equipment on a plurality of component carriers within a sub-frame containing the MAC control element, relative to the total maximum UE transmit power of the user equipment.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the invention to create the invention of Malkamaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Feuersanger in order to report its available power headroom to eNodeB (Feuersanger; [0076]).
Regarding claim 19 Malkamaki teaches, a base station, for a Radio Access Network, RAN, the base station comprising:
a processor configured to process a power headroom control element received from a user equipment, (send the eNB 12 power headroom reports), (Malkamaki; [Page 11, para 8- page12, para 1] the UE 10 can be assumed to also include a MAC PHR function / module 10E configured to compose and send the eNB 12 power headroom reports, i.e., to compose an uplink signaling message to report power headroom for a plurality n of component carriers, and the eNB 12 includes a complementary MAC PHR function / module 12E configured to receive and interpret the power headroom reports sent by the UE 10) (See fig. 2), wherein the power headroom control element is structured to comprise:
a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a number of bits in the power headroom control element (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 1] Embodiment 1 ) add one bit for each real per-CC PH (which should report P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) to indicate whether maximum output power for that component carrier (P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C) is present or whether the previous reported maximum output power ( P.sub.CMAX,C) in the report should be used instead ... [Page 14 para 5-6]Fig.4A shows ... In this case the value of the P bit indicates whether P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C is present (P=l) or not present (P=0) in the PHR. If P.sub.C AX,C is not present (P=0), then the value of another bit S indicates whether the same as the previous value of P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C (S=l) should be used for this PH or not used (S=0)); and
an indicator field associated with the power headroom field, wherein the indicator field indicates whether the power headroom information is based on a real transmission or a virtual format (Malkamaki; [Page 14 para 4]The value of the V bit indicates whether the PH is real (V=0) or virtual (V=l, see the example shown in Figure 3 for the Type 2 PH for PCell and Type 1 PH for SCell2 and SCell4)).
However, in the same field of endeavor Feuersanger teaches, a power headroom field containing power headroom information and having a predetermined number of bits in the power headroom control element (Feuersanger; [0201] The MAC control element comprises a power headroom field consisting of a predetermined number of bits for comprising a per-user equipment power headroom with respect to all uplink transmissions of the user equipment on a plurality of component carriers within a sub-frame containing the MAC control element, relative to the total maximum UE transmit power of the user equipment.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the invention to create the invention of Malkamaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Feuersanger in order to report its available power headroom to eNodeB (Feuersanger; [0076]).
Regarding claims 2, 11, 17, and 20 Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches, The claims 1, 10, 16 and 19,
Malkamaki further teaches, wherein: when the indicator field indicates that the power headroom information is based on a real transmission, this further indicates that a transmission power field, associated with the power headroom information, with a predetermined number of bits, is present in the power headroom control element (Malkamaki; [Page 15 para 7] See fig. 4C provide an ability to indicate for each PH whether it is a real PH or a virtual PH, and not report P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C for virtual PHs. Furthermore, the exemplary embodiments of this invention provide an ability to indicate for each real PH whether PC .sub.AX,.sub.C is reported or whether a previous P.sub.CMAX,C in the same Power Headroom MAC CE should be used instead.); and
when the indicator field indicates that the power headroom information is based on a virtual format, this further indicates that a transmission power field, associated with the power headroom information, with a predetermined number of bits, is not present in the power headroom control element (Malkamaki; [Page 15 para 3-4] Fig. 3. The second bit is defined as: V: indicates whether this PH is virtual (V=l) or real (V=0). If P=0 (P.sub.CMAx,.sub.cis not present) and V=0 (real PH), then Pc MAX,c Used in the calculation of the PH is the previous reported PcMAx,.sub.c in the same MAC CE).
Regarding claims 3, 12, and 18 Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches, The claims 2, 11, and 17,
Malkamaki fails to explicitly teach, wherein the power headroom field containing the power headroom information is separate from the transmission power field.
Feuersanger further teaches, wherein the power headroom field containing the power headroom information is separate from the transmission power field (Feuersanger; [0383] The flag being set (e.g. 1) may for example indicate that amount of power reduction and a power headroom report according to Definition 1 or Definition 2 is comprised in the MAC CE. The flag not being set (e.g. 0) indicates that only a power headroom report according to Definition 1 or Definition 2 is signaled).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the invention to create the invention of Malkamaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Feuersanger in order to report its available power headroom to eNodeB (Feuersanger; [0076]).
Regarding claim 4 Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches,The method of claim 2,
wherein the power headroom control element comprises a set of octets, wherein the power headroom field and the indicator field are located in a same octet of the power headroom control element, and wherein when the transmission power field, associated with the power headroom information, is present in the power headroom control element, the transmission power field is located in the octet directly after the octet with the power headroom field and the indicator field
wherein the power headroom control element comprises a set of octets, wherein the power headroom field and the indicator field are located in a same octet of the power headroom control element, and wherein when the transmission power field, associated with the power headroom information, is present in the power headroom control element, the transmission power field is located in the octet directly after the octet with the power headroom field and the indicator field (Feuersanger; [0321] FIG. 29 shows an exemplary MAC PDU according to an embodiment of the invention. Since there is one MAC PDU sub-header in a MAC PDU for every MAC SDU (Service Data Unit) which contains RLC PDUs of a logical channel (identified by the LCID) which has data in the MAC PDU, the PS flag could be set in any one of, all of or a sub-set of the MAC PDU sub-headers within a given MAC PDU. In principle it is sufficient, if only one of the MAC PDU sub-header, e.g. the first MAC PDU sub-header of a MAC PDU contains a power-scaling flag (PS flag). ).
Regarding claims 5, and 13, Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches, The claims 2, and 11,
Malkamaki further teaches, wherein the power headroom field is a first power headroom field, wherein the power headroom information is first power headroom information, wherein the indicator field is a first indicator field, wherein the first power headroom information is for a first component carrier, and wherein the power headroom control element is further structured to comprise (See Figure 4C Figure 4C shows an example of the corresponding Power Headroom MAC CE when simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmission is configured. In this example P.sub.CMAX,.sub.c is included for PCell and SCell-1, SCell-2 and SCell-3):
a second power headroom field containing second power headroom information for a second component carrier (See Figure 4C), and
a second indicator field associated with the second power headroom field, wherein the second indicator field contains a second indicator value indicating whether the second power headroom information is based on a real transmission or a virtual format (Malkamaki; [Page 15 para 5]Figure 4C shows an example of the corresponding Power Headroom MAC CE when simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmission is configured. In this example P.sub.CMAX,.sub.c is included for PCell and SCell-1, SCell-2 and SCell-3 have same P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C as PCell, and SCell-4 is the only virtual PHR.).
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Regarding claims 6, and 14, Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches, The claims 5, and 13,
Malkamaki further teaches, wherein: when the second indicator field indicates that the second power headroom information is based on a real transmission, this further indicates that a second transmission power field, associated with the first power headroom information, with a predetermined number of bits, is present in the power headroom control element; and when the second indicator field indicates that the second power headroom information is based on a virtual format, this further indicates that a second transmission power field, associated with the second power headroom information, with a predetermined number of bits, is not present in the power headroom control element (Malkamaki; [Page 15 para 5] Figures 4D-1 and 4D-2 when simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmission is not configured and PCMAX ,C is included for PCell and SCell-1, SCell-2 and SCell-3 have same PCMAX ,c as PCell, and SCell-4 is the only virtual PHR. In the example shown in Figure 4D-2 PCMAX,c is reported immediately after the corresponding power headroom. Thus P=l indicates that PCMAX ,C value follows and P=0 indicates that there is no PCMAX,C value and thus a PH follows, and if V=0).
Regarding claims 7, and 15, Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches, The claims 6, and 13,
Malkamaki further teaches,, wherein the power headroom control element comprises a set of octets, wherein the first power headroom field and the first indicator field are located in a same octet of the power headroom control element, wherein when a first transmission power field, associated with the first power headroom information, is present in the power headroom control element, the first transmission power field is located in the octet directly after the octet with the first power headroom field and the first indicator field, wherein the second power headroom field and the second indicator field are located in a same octet of the power headroom control element, wherein when the second transmission power field, associated with the second power headroom information, is present in the power headroom control element, the second transmission power field is located in the octet directly after the octet with the second power headroom field and the second indicator field (Malkamaki; [Page 15 para 5] in Figure 4D-2 P.sub.CMAX,c is reported immediately after the corresponding power headroom. Thus P=l indicates that P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C value follows and P=0 indicates that there is no P.sub.CMAX,C value and thus a PH follows, and if V=0 previous P.sub.CMAX,.sub.C should be used instead.).
Regarding claim 8 Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches, The method of Claim 1,
Malkamaki fails to explicitly teach, wherein the power headroom information defines a difference between a nominal UE maximum transmit power and an estimated required power
Feuersanger further teaches, wherein the power headroom information defines a difference between a nominal UE maximum transmit power and an estimated required power (Feuersanger; [0361] as shown in FIG. 28, the per-CC power headroom is not taking into account power scaling on a given component carrier. The power headroom is defined as the difference between the maximum transmit power of the component carrier P.sub.CMAX,c (after power reduction) minus the estimated transmit power of the UE for the component carrier c prior to power scaling. The estimated transmit power of the UE for the component carrier c may be given by a transmit power control of the user equipment for the component carrier c.).
Regarding claim 9 Malkamaki-Feuersanger teaches, The method of Claim 2,
Malkamaki fails to explicitly teach, wherein the power headroom information comprises a power headroom report for a component carrier, wherein the indicator field contains an indicator value indicating presence of the transmission power field for the component carrier in the power headroom control element, wherein the power headroom control element comprises the transmission power field for the component carrier, and wherein the transmission power field for the component carrier contains a report of a configured transmission power of the UE for the component carrier associated with the power headroom report
Feuersanger further teaches, wherein the power headroom information comprises a power headroom report for a component carrier, wherein the indicator field contains an indicator value indicating presence of the transmission power field for the component carrier in the power headroom control element, wherein the power headroom control element comprises the transmission power field for the component carrier, and wherein the transmission power field for the component carrier contains a report of a configured transmission power of the UE for the component carrier associated with the power headroom report (Feuersanger; [0296] the highest bit in the octet is set to 0, the MAC CE represents a power headroom report for that component carrier, i.e. a per-CC MAC CE reporting a power headroom for the given component carrier--the per-CC MAC CE reporting on the power headroom is thus a component carrier-specific MAC control element. If the bit is set to 1, the reported power headroom is the per-UE power headroom of the power-limit MAC CE. Please note that the power-limit MAC CE (i.e. the per-UE power headroom CE can be considered to be UE specific, so that the power-limit MAC CE can be considered a UE-specific MAC control element).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the invention to create the invention of Malkamaki to include the above recited limitations as taught by Feuersanger in order to report its available power headroom to eNodeB (Feuersanger; [0076]).
Conclusion
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/W. T/ Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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